


gungi ghoul

by anies



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghouls, Blind Character, F/M, Ghouls, Gungi (Hunter X Hunter), I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Sorry, Kagune (Tokyo Ghoul), Komugi/Meruem if you squint, Meruem has a bikaku because tail, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Angst, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Reincarnation, no beta we die like komugi, they weren't important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:08:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26361670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anies/pseuds/anies
Summary: It's the way the pieces fit so nicely in her hands and in her head that gives her comfort; memories of Meruem and Gungi engraved into her mind with all the vibrancy of colors and stars that she could only hope to imagine.So when Komugi is reborn, in all of her sightless and genius glory, she clings to those very moments, clinging with spartan strength to hope.She hopes she'll see him again.Until it happens, but not in the most conventional way.
Relationships: Komugi & Meruem (Hunter X Hunter), Komugi/Meruem
Comments: 8
Kudos: 47





	gungi ghoul

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to another idea that I had at 3 am! No beta reader. Apologies for grammatical errors, I haven't really edited it too heavily/with scrutiny. Please enjoy!

There are times when Komugi plays _Gungi_ where she toys with strategies that are half formed, half-baked. Like her fingers grasping at the last piece of the game, so close yet always another move away. And when all the pieces of it finally meet together halfway; to her, it’s the feeling of exhilaration, movement culminating and perpetuating into the high before the fall, the moment of euphoria; the moment she clicks the final piece of the game to the board as she devastates her opponent—her life deemed worthy until the very next match where she’d prove it again. 

Every strategy has the ability to grow into something bigger, something larger. She knows this very well. 

But, a strategy is not complete until it is done and tried, used and proved. Komugi knows this, too.

-

Meruem is reborn with fingers so close to a human that for a moment when his perception lapses, he’s tempted to bite them off. 

This time, he’s born with features so similar to a human, that sometimes he mistakes himself _for_ one. His eyes are the same shade of vibrant purple, but the rest of him seems so _off_ that it’s odd to see himself in the mirror; wavy brown-green hair, fair skin, and all. He knows that he’s still Meruem, (the way he holds _Gungi_ and Komugi close to his heart speaks enough), but the feeling is unnatural and uncomfortable.

But in his last life he wasn’t human, and in this life he isn’t, either.

It shows in the unnatural way that his eyes turn vivid red and black with hunger, the way appendages grow from his tailbone like arms and legs and weeds. This, he knows, is not human. 

_He’s a ghoul_ , he finds out during his childhood here. 

( _His childhood doesn’t last very long._ )

-

Komugi is reborn blind. She’s reborn with the same hair, the same unseeing pair of eyes she began with, and with the same love and respect for _Gungi_ and Meruem. 

She is toddled along through life treated like a baby, far softer than her past life. The change isn’t unwelcome, but Komugi feels awkward with it—so used to having to prove her worth game by game by tournament by tournament that sometimes she doesn’t know exactly how to react. 

It’s different from her time with Meruem (the memories of which stood out to her the most, even now), whom of which she always inherently knew had an understanding of her, with her. 

( _She misses him._ )

In this life, Komugi learns chess and checkers and every game imaginable, but nothing quite matches up to _Gungi_ , the game she had dedicated and gambled her life to. It’s not the same. 

( _She’s afraid she’ll never find something quite like it again, that she’ll never have another match with Meruem again. The chances of her seeing him again are low, but she floods her head with hope anyways.)_

Komugi is reborn _human_ , and it makes all the difference.

-

Tokyo is busy, busier than the streets of East Gorteau and the world Komugi’s familiar with. There are people left and right, cars and buses honking at each corner, and it’s honestly impossibly disorienting for her. She hears every sound and smells every scent, and it’s overwhelming hard to process. Her head swims like fish in a whirlpool—going in circles and confused. 

But years of living in this city has familiarized her to the scenery, and she remembers the way home like the way she memorizes what all the pieces of her chess set feels like. Komugi turns the corner into the alley, and then she falters in her step.

Tension saturates the air thick, and Komugi _remembers_ , remembers _helplessness_ and _fear_ , and- ( _where’s Meruem-sama?!)_

Dread overtakes her body and locks her in place, and Komugi feels as helpless as she did when the bird attacked her in the palace and when the rock fell through the ceiling and she couldn’t move. 

Her eyes water, salty tears brimming at the edges of glassy eyes, and then-

-something grabs her.

-

Meruem makes the best he can with the life he has now. He’s no longer the King, no longer in the world he knows, so sometimes he feels lost—like a tiny ant stranded in the middle of the ocean.

( _In a way, it’s true._ )

Sometimes he wanders the streets of Tokyo aimlessly, observing the way the humans bustle around him without sparing a glance. 

_In his past life, they never would have done that_ , he thinks. 

The air carries the foul scents of street food and drinks and he wrinkles his nose in disgust. The city of Tokyo is a hotspot for anything and everything.

He treads lightly along the sidewalk, feet as light as he’s used to going.

Under the odor of rotten fish, he smells blood.

-

A scream rips from Komugi’s mouth as she’s torn from the ground and into the air, sharp barbs digging into her sides and scraping her hands. Something warm and convulsing tightens around her torso, thick and unmovable _and she can’t breathe-_

-

From across the street he hears a shrill shriek, and it’s _oh so_ familiar, heart wrenchingly so.

He’s there before he can register.

Meruem sees red. 

( _His kagune is out before he knows it, bikaku moving as lightning-fast as his tail once did, beheading the other ghoul before he can react. Blood splatters on the wall of the alley. He doesn’t see it._ )

There’s only the vision of white hair and glassy eyes, and Meruem forgets to breathe. 

He approaches her, sniffling and crying in all her beauty.

Meruem’s arms reach out, and then-

-

Their hands meet halfway, (a _Gungi_ strategy _complete_ ), and suddenly Komugi’s eyes are pouring like waterfalls again, snot dribbling down her nostril as she cries harder than ever. Meruem breathes in her scent and _this_ , this is _complete_.

( _Komugi loves the feeling of completing a strategy, finishing it after growing it like a plant, expanding it with thought and trial. She revels in it when the pieces meet halfway and finally her life is proven, Gungi pieces strewn across the board so clearly enunciating her victory._ )

( _Meruem learns as he grows—Komugi his sun, Gungi his ground. Because no matter how many times he fails to best her, he knows now that a loss is something that he can improve from, that a loss isn’t something that he shouldn’t expect. He’s relieved, because this feels far more right than any win could ever feel against Komugi._ )

-

“Can we play another match of _Gungi_?” Komugi asks, softly.

  
“That is all I could ever want.” Meruem says, and all the fragments have fallen into place like pieces on a board of _Gungi_.

**Author's Note:**

> I always loved their relationship, and the concept of gungi/how it tied into it. The ghoul au was just to add some fun (and words) into the mix and Meruem isn’t really Meruem unless he has some oddities in him; said oddities up for interpretation though. Anyways, this is something that was written early morning, as all my writing seems to go.
> 
> Again, I’m horrible at characterization so apologies if they seem out of character.
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! <3


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